Reporter in Exile

Extradition A Go-Go? Bout-Thaksin quid pro quo?

Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Government's most wanted political fugitive, could appear this month in Washington later this month before a U.S. government human rights agency.

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe has invited the former prime minister -- since deposed and convicted of corruption -- to speak about human rights in the kingdom, the Post reports.

Although word has it Thaksin isn't quite so cozy these days with Thai opposition elements, the government has unsucessfully sought his extradition for the past four years.

Thailand's recent extradition of suspected arms trafficker Viktor Bout would seem to give Bangkok a winning argument for American authorities to arrest Thaksin. Bout's sudden flight to New York on Air DEA last month, under political pressure from the United States and to the fury of Moscow, makes one wonder if any assurances were made to the Thai government.

Superficially: If Thailand gave them their guy, how could they say no to the same request?

ThaiLeaks?

• A U.S.-based computer security journal reported today that Wikileaks' latest round of network attacks originated from computers in Russia and Thailand. (H/T @responseap) (Original source: Arbor Networks security blog.)

• One interesting item to look for among the State dispatches would be correspondence regarding American threat assessments of this past spring's red shirt campaign in central Bangkok. On March 17 -- the same day red shirts splashed blood onto the prime minister's home -- they also converged on the U.S. Embassy demanding to know if U.S. intelligence had been supplied to Thai authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban earlier had cited "foreign intelligence" as the basis for his warning of sabotage in the Thai capital during the protests.

Such documents would have contained security assessments and thus might not have been left sitting out in the relatively open SIPRNet. Also, Wikileaks' archive seems to end in February of this year, so it's unlikey to sate this curious question.

• What manner of communication was going on between Condoleeza Rice's State Department of 2006 during the Thaksin putsch? What analysis provoked sympathy from President Bush, who would soon say he "understands" the Thai coup?

• Anything and everything 'bout Viktor.

• Any occurence of the string "Chuwit."
  

 

What mysteries are you hoping the datadump will shed light upon?

 

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Apparently I'm not alone in eagerly anticipating the release of thousands of U.S. State Department cables pertaining to Thailand mentioned here Sunday. Someone has registered thaicables.wordpress.com to blog about them. Author is unidentified, but the syntax and grammar therein suggest English is not his or her first language. Not much there yet, but only a couple hundred of the nearly quarter-million cables tagged "Thailand" are available in the Wikileaks archive.